Ex-border chief reveals he didn't speak to Biden or Kamala ONCE during his two-year tenure: Agent in charge of 2,000 guards says the cartels are 'winning' in shocking interview

The former head of Border Patrol slammed politicians for failing to fix the migrant crisis and revealed that he never had a conversation with President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Raul Ortiz said his agents had become pawns in a political game that allowed Mexican cartels, who control cross-border traffic, to win.  

'I've never had one conversation with the president or the vice president, for that matter,' he said. 

'And so I was the chief of the Border Patrol. I commanded 21,000 people, that's a problem.'

Raul retired May last year, after heading Border Patrol for two years under Biden and serving as deputy chief under President Donald Trump.

The former head of Border Patrol revealed that he had never had a single conversation with President Joe Biden or Vice President Joe Biden during his time in office. Border Patrol agents are seen here picking up dozens of migrants last week near Sasabe, Arizona

The border crisis has emerged as the most important issue for voters in November's presidential election.

And it moved center stage when Biden and Trump both visited different parts of the Texas frontier on the same day last week.

Ortiz said too many decisions were being made for the wrong reasons. 

'When agencies are making a decision based upon politics or whether they're gonna get media coverage ... "Hey, we're gonna put all our personnel in this two mile stretch" ... What about the other 200 miles?' he told CBS's '60 Minutes.' 

Last week, DailyMail.com revealed how hundreds of people were crossing into Arizona, more than 1000 miles away from the quiet spot in Texas selected for Biden's visit.

Meanwhile, Texas and the federal government are at loggerheads in court over who does what on the border. 

'National Guardsmen, even to some degree the Border Patrol agents have become pawns in this political game between the two sides,' said Ortiz.

That was good news for smugglers and traffickers, he added. 

'The cartels, the criminal organisations, that's who's winning in all of this,' he said. 'They're sitting back reaping all the benefits while they watch the state of Texas and Washington, D.C., go at it.'

Raul Ortiz slammed President Joe Biden and other politicians for making Border Patrol agents into political pawns, while leaving criminal cartels as the winners in border crisis

New arrivals line up waiting to be processed by Border Patrol agents last Wednesday, on a remote part of the Arizona border

Migrants can be seen waiting to be picked up beside the border wall

Earlier it emerged that the United States is expected to be grappling with more than 8 million asylum seekers and migrants who will have crossed over the southern border by September.

The staggering figure represents a 167 percent surge in five years and underscores the challenges faced by what is both an underfunded and antiquated immigration system. 

The vast majority of the 8 million are now free to roam US streets, including 2 million 'high-priority' cases of career criminals seeking asylum. 

The system appears to be struggling to cope with the rapid numbers of migrants flowing across the border, which reached an all-time high of 302,000 monthly crossings in December. 

The backlog has left millions of migrants who are currently residing in the U.S., unsure of whether they will be permitted to stay or simply be deported. 

The US is expected to have more than 8 million asylum seekers and migrants in legal limbo by September's end, marking a 167 percent increase in five years 

Migrants cross the Rio Grande, on the border that divides Mexico from the United States, in Juarez City, Mexico, on Thursday

Groups of migrants of different nationalities arrive at the Rio Grande, to cross it and surrender to the American authorities, since elements of the Texas National Guard no longer prevent their passage in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Saturday

Migrants attempt to cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Thursday

Migrants who cross the border may often be forced to wait several years for a decision to be made in their applications. In the meantime, they have been released to American streets. 

Recent data suggests the backlog has only swelled during President Joe Biden's term in part reflecting the difficulties his administration has faced in addressing the unprecedented influx of migrants, mainly from Central and South America.

At the end of fiscal year 2023 on September 30, more than 6 million people were recorded on what officials term the 'non-detained docket.' 

Government projections, as communicated in Homeland Security documents sent to Congress, suggest the number will have risen to 8 million by October 1. 

The number includes people who have been ordered to be deported or who are still awaiting their final decisions in their asylum or immigration cases.

The majority are not being held in limited available detention space and instead are free to roam. 

Immigration system appears to be unable to keep pace with the growing migrant population with more than 302,000 crossing the border in December - an all-time high

The numbers of migrants coming across the southern border has skyrocketed since 2021

Groups of migrants of different nationalities arrive at the Rio Grande, to cross it and surrender to the American authorities on Saturday

Activists and migrants on the northern border of Mexico expressed their relief after a US judge postponed the start of the Texas Law SB4, that as of February 26, would have allowed the authorities of Texas to detain migrants, imprison them or expel them

Firefighters (from L) Rodrigo Pineda, William Dorsey and Lt. Julio Valdes of the Eagle Pass Fire Department recover the body of a drowned migrant from the Rio Grande river on Friday in Eagle Pass, Texas

Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently has only 40,000 detention beds.

In the backlog, about 2 million of the individuals in the backlog are deemed high-priority cases, primarily comprising of those who have received deportation orders to their home countries.

It also includes migrants who have criminal records or who are facing pending criminal charges.

Further complicating matters, the federal immigration agencies including Customs and Border Protection and ICE find themselves facing challenges because of partisan disputes in Congress, which have hindered the allocation of necessary resources. 

The Biden administration has sought additional funding to address the border situation, but the requests have been met with resistance.

A bipartisan border deal that had been in the making for months was quashed by Republicans, who were influenced by Trump's stance on the issue.

Trump has highlighted the Biden Administration's ineffectiveness at dealing with the problem as a campaign issue.

Republicans are continuing to push for an increased amount of migrants to be detained and deported just as ICE is forced to contemplate cutbacks.

Migrants link arms with each other as they wade into the Rio Grande River with intentions to cross into Eagle Pass, Texas, last month

Migrants prepare to cross the Rio Grande, on Thursday

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures after waving to people across the Rio Grande in Mexico at Shelby Park during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border

President Joe Biden greets Brownsville Mayor John Cowen upon arrival at Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday where he met with federal border patrol agents

Last month, the Senate failed to approve a bipartisan bill that would have addressed a $700 million budget deficit for the agency - the largest in history. The failed bill would have  allocated $7.6 billion specifically for ICE.

Officials with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security said they were considering cutting costs by releasing thousands of immigrants and reducing detention levels by 16,000 — from 38,000 to 22,000. 

Meanwhile, thousands of individuals in desperate circumstances continue to cross the border daily.

Following the  failure of the bipartisan border deal, there is now speculation on whether President Biden will decide to embrace policies resembling those implemented by Trump to curb illegal border crossings. 

Either way, immigration experts, officials, and congressional sources agree that any policies that will be effective in addressing illegal border crossings will require substantial investments in personnel and other resources.